Get the Skinny on Nominating, Voting, and Donating

If you are part of the Build the Giving Muscle program and are not yet contributing $25/month, you cannot yet nominate or vote. But hang in there! You’ll be able to soon!

We give out four donations per year: March, June, September, and December. In order to have your charity considered, you must have completed the nomination form BEFORE the start of the prior month’s meeting. That means your nominations are due in February, May, August, and November.

As an active member contributing $25/month you can nominate one charity each donation cycle, and it’s easy to do. Just complete the nomination form. You can find a link to that nomination form under the Member Resources post on our Charitable Giving Forum or you can use this link: Nomination Form.

Two weeks before the donation meeting, you’ll receive the completed evaluations of our nominated charities. When you receive that email, voting is open. I’ll make it easy for you to know by giving the email the title, “Voting Is Now Open!” Voting will stay open until the start of your giving circle’s next meeting. The votes will be tallied, disclosed, and the chosen charity announced at that next call.

If you can’t make the meeting, you can still submit your vote. In order to submit your absentee ballot, just email me with which charity you’re voting for. Please only include me on that email, so that we avoid influencing others!

You cannot vote for the charity you nominated. This is because we want you to support your fellow giving circle members, and we don’t want you to get too attached to your own nominee. Remember, we can feel good that we’re promoting our overall cause even if our favorite charity isn’t chosen!

The details of the donation process are subject to change as the giving circle evaluates what is working and what can be improved. Members decide how the nomination and voting will proceed at the Review meetings and store a copy of those guidelines in their Google Docs folder.

More Resources

Quote

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

Another Quote

Past the seeker as he prayed came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten. And seeing them… he cried, “Great God, how is it that a loving creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?” God said, “I did do something. I made you.” Sufi Teaching

Yet Another Quote

“What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do.” John Ruskin